Family photos sought for centennial book

Sunday

Sep 1, 2013 at 12:32 PMSep 1, 2013 at 12:47 PM

By Melody Burrimelody@messengerpostmedia.com

CANANDAIGUA — It’s a chance to be remembered for generations to come. Longtime Canandaigua residents are invited to have their family’s keepsake photo included in a hard-bound, coffee-table, pictorial book celebrating 100 years of Canandaigua history.

Messenger Post Media in partnership with the Ontario County Historical Society will bring readers an heirloom-quality 135-page volume which will feature hundreds of nostalgic images and rich local history.

“It will be keepsake for sure — the city’s centennial is a onetime event,” said Ontario County Historical Society Director Ed Varno. “The themes in the book will represent the exhibit at the Historical Society, which will be up until April 2014. This will be a companion book, a well thought out presentation of the city in the 20th century.”

City Historian Lynn Paulson thinks this will be a great opportunity for residents to get a glimpse of what the city was like over the past 100 years. “The Historical Society has had several excellent pictorial books over the years, and the last one was 1870-1930,” he said. “But nothing has been done to outline what the city was like from 1913 to the present.”

Messenger Post Media Regional Editor Allison Cooper is pleased that Canandaigua’s hometown paper can be a part of the celebration and a part of recording history.

“The OCHS has a wonderful exhibit that Lynn Paulson and Wilma Townsend put together, and this project is going to let that exhibit live,” Cooper said.

About shared photos

Why should residents take time to dig through their family archives and bring in keepsake images? Varno said it’s their chance to be a part of recorded local history.

“You’re going to be in the book,” said Varno. “Your favorite photo from your family’s past will be in the book.”

Residents are invited to bring general interest “slice of life” photos such as local businesses, historic transportation, families, neighborhoods, milestones, rural life, and public service taken in the Canandaigua area between 1913 and today.

“What I’d love to see is faces — I’d love to see people,” said Cooper. “I think we have a lot of the traditional shots — from uptown to the lake, Main Street before it was paved, and we love those shots. But we also love the families, the generations, the parents and great-grandparents of people we know today.”

It doesn’t have to be a big landmark event or have a locally famous person in it, Cooper added. It’s the slice of life photos that really tell a story.

About the scanning

Residents should bring selected images to one of three scanning sessions and the OCHS, along with a photo submission form for each. These may be downloaded at Canandaigua.PictorialBook.com. Scanning dates are Tuesday, Sept. 3; Thursday, Sept. 5; and Saturday, Sept. 7.

A maximum of 10 photos are allowed per family. Private collectors with sizable collections should call (360) 687-6731 for an appointment.

“The event is so great because people can bring their photo in to be scanned and they’ll get them right back,” said Cooper. “They can stay with their photo.”

Professional scanning will be done by publishing company staff, and residents will be greeting by Cooper and Varno, along with other Messenger Post and Historical Society staff. In addition to the book, scanned photos will also be put in the museum’s archival collections.

Beyond the coffee table

More than just a coffee table decoration, the volume is expected to help people learn more about their hometown, recall treasured memories, and be a new option for gift-giving.

“For people who are new to Canandaigua in the last 10 years, they don’t have the historical perspective,” said Paulson. “It’s a great book for them to look back and see what their community used to be like.”

For others, it will be all about reliving old times.

“A lot of the people who are alive today were alive during this period,” Varno said. “The book will bring back a lot memories for a lot of people. It will permit them to take a look at the community and draw memories from those images.”

Cooper said the books will make great holiday gifts, or gifts for family members, history buffs and locals, and they’ll be treasured.

“The residents of Canandaigua are so in tune with our history — it means so much to them,” said Cooper. “This is a project that will really belong to them. It won’t be a typical book of old photos. This will document the centennial, and that’s what makes it so unique. It’s a great privilege and we’re so thrilled to be a part of it.”

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